Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company is working on a new spacecraft project that’ll fly via nuclear thermal propulsion.
On Monday, Blue Origin was among three companies awarded with US government contracts to design the concept nuclear-powered spacecraft. The project comes from DARPA within the US Defense Department, which is best known for funding experimental prototypes, including a predecessor to the internet. In this case, the goal is to create a nuclear thermal propulsion system that can fly in low Earth orbit by 2025.
Current spacecraft, including Blue Origin’s, rely on burning chemical fuel to travel in space. But for decades, scientists also considered powering spaceships with nuclear reactions. The main advantages include better fuel efficiency and performance over chemical combustion. The nuclear reaction would be used to heat up a liquid propellant for thrust.
DARPA also says a nuclear thermal propulsion system could achieve a “high thrust-to-weight ratio,” enabling the spacecraft to rapidly maneuver in orbit. “The NTP technology we seek to develop and demonstrate under the DRACO program aims to be foundational to future operations in space,” added Major Nathan Greiner, a DARPA manager for the project.
The government agency has tasked Blue Origin and aerospace company Lockheed Martin with independently developing a concept spacecraft design around the nuclear thermal propulsion system. A third company, General Atomics, will focus on developing the propulsion system itself. (Back in September, General Atomics delivered one such concept system to NASA that’s been designed to power future spacecraft to Mars.)
DARPA says the first phase of the project will occur over 18 months and involve creating preliminary designs. The project then aims to transition to more detailed designs, fabrication, and then an actual demonstration to reach the 2025 goal.
